Tiger
by XSnow LeopardX
Summary: The Garden is threatened by a Galbadian attack. Trickery and lies are woven through-out the Garden... Who is a traitor, and who is not? Is Seifer and the posse prime suspects along with a unliked, suspicious trainee? Or are they the Garden's only chance?
1. Chapter I

{This is just the first chapter—I don't plan on putting up any of my other chapters until I finish. I just wanted to get this chapter up to see if people would find this interesting… I _might_ put the second chapter up, but it depends… *shrug* We'll see how the reviews are!

Yes, I know it's short. ^^;}

Chapter I

Student Trouble

Squall Leonhart sat as his desk, working on a bit of paper work. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't enjoyable either. He sighed and rested his head in his free hand, working methodically.  It was quite boring, if you asked him.

Squall was now head of the Garden, but refused to be called 'Headmaster' for two reasons. One, old Headmaster Cid was still around from time to time, and two—the name headmaster seemed too… old. He requested to keep the name Commander, and fortunately everyone agreed. 

Abruptly, a voice halted his work, making him look up. It was Quistis, the woman who was once his instructor. Now a few years older and a bit more experienced, having a few more fights under her belt, she had regained her Instructor's license and was now one of the best instructors in the Garden. He waited a moment to see if she would speak first, and finally placed his pen on the desk and asked in a slightly exasperated tone, "What?"

"Squall, there seems to be some… trouble… with one of my students."

Squall studied her for a moment, watching her shift her weight to one foot to the other. She seemed ill at ease by admitting that something was wrong with one of _her_ students. He guessed that it wasn't something too serious, for she would have been worried in which she clearly wasn't—it was just something she couldn't fix or help. Finally he answered. "Like what?"

"At this particular student's age, they are required to wear their uniforms, as you know, and this student simply refuses to wear one," Quistis answered.

To any passer by, this would have seemed like no problem at all. Laughable, even. But in this Garden the rules were strict and meant to be followed, especially by trainees. Wearing their uniforms was just one step of many in getting them to learn that following orders was part of their lives—'no' was not an option they could choose. If they refused to wear their uniform, action was taken. As they got older, they then had the choice of wearing their own clothes or their uniforms, and being accustomed to them most students chose their uniforms. Like a few others, Squall had chosen his attire.

Squall now realized why Quistis was unsettled-this was, in fact, a minor problem, and not being able to fix it disgraced the teacher herself rather then the trainee. "Have you done anything to make this student wear the uniforms?" he asked, and seeing that this was not a major problem, he looked back down to his papers, scanning them though keeping an ear open for Quistis.

"Everything, other then expelling her from the Garden," Quistis answered.

Squall stopped scanning and looked up at her. Though it did not show on his emotionless face, he was quite stunned. By now, just about any student would have given in and would have worn the damn uniform, but for one reason or another, this student would not. "And why haven't you?" he asked.

"Several reasons, one being that this student is an orphan. The student's too young to legally live alone," Quistis answered, finally calming down enough to take a seat.

"Oh." Squall knew what it was like to be an orphan, and he knew Quistis did as well. Expelling this student was now out of the question.

Absent-mindedly he traced his scar that cut across the bridge of his nose, giving him a distinctive, unforgettable look. He did this often when he was thinking. There was only one thing he could think of. "All right then. Let's go see this student of yours." The student couldn't be that bad, and had to have a logical reason for this.

Right?


	2. Chapter II

{**Author's Note:** Yup, chapter two! I got… er.. one review! ^^; So… yeah. Please, review and tell me what you think!

Someone reviewed that my 'Ravi' here seemed like a Mary Sue… and it was sad how I kinda agreed. I wrote this a while ago, so I decided to revise it. And don't worry—she's *not* a Mary Sue! I hate Mary Sue's just as much as the next person. *nod nod* Squall *is* with Rinoa, even though I really don't like the pair. Heh.}

Chapter II

Ravi Sekar

Quistis widened her eyes. She had not thought that Squall would think of actually seeing the student, yet it _was_ a good idea.

            "Well? How about it?" Squall asked, seeing that she hadn't moved.

            "…Good idea… yes let's go. Class is over, but most of the students hang around for another half hour or two. They should still be there."

            Quistis walked into the room, mumbling something that remotely sounded like 'Good evening class," and then started walking towards the back of the room. The students never paid much attention to her after class, but when Squall walked into the room they were sure to pay attention to him. Squall rarely visited classrooms, and was now the center or attention by everyone. He felt uncomfortable, but of course he did not show it.

Quistis stopped abruptly, and nodded her head off towards the student. "There. That's her."

Squall followed the direction of her gesture and a saw who she was talking about. 

The student leaned against the back wall, separating herself from the other students entirely. The first thing that caught his eye about her was the scar running down the right side of her face, starting at her lower temple continuing down to her jaw. She looked about 5'6 and had shoulder-length brown hair that she allowed to fall loosely on her shoulders. From his distance he could not see her eye color, but that didn't seem to matter to him. She wore black, loose fitting pants that came down far enough to cover almost all of her black boots, accompanied by a sleeveless white shirt. She had black, fingerless gloves on, and the look on her face seemed as though she didn't want to really deal with anyone at the moment.

He then looked to Quistis. "Name?" he questioned.

"Ravi. Ravi Sekar," Quistis answered.

Squall nodded and strode forward towards her, questions forming rapidly in his mind. Why was she alone? Why did she look so… harsh? What made her not want to wear the Garden's uniform? He mentally shrugged off the questions and stopped in front of her, saying nothing.

She blinked, realizing who he was and instantly saluted—the shock could not be erased from her features. "Commander."

 "I've heard that you refuse to wear Garden's uniform. Care to tell me why?" he said in the same tone after nodding away her salute.

She appraised him with blank, emerald eyes. "Because I'm not like them."

_Not like who?_ Squall questioned himself, confused. _How?_ "Not like who?" he asked aloud, fighting to keep the impassive look on his face. Thankfully, it worked.

"Not like _them_," she repeated, nodding off in a direction. Squall looked behind him, looking in the direction of her nod. He saw a group of girls, chatting happily near the front of the room, passing the daily gossip and fixing their hair.

His head cocked to the side ever so slightly as he turned his head back to her. "I'm not sure I understand."

She sighed, exasperated. She uncrossed her hands and feet for a moment, then slowly crossed them again. She muttered to herself under her breath, though Squall couldn't quite make out what it was. She shifted her wait uncomfortably, as if she didn't like explaining this.  She then grabbed something behind the pillar that she was next to. To Squall's utter and complete shock, it was a gunblade. "They don't like to fight… I do."

Squall blinked, trying to force his eyes back to their original state. _A gunblade!_ He exclaimed to himself. _Impossible!_ He then became suddenly curious. _How well can she use it?_ Finally, he spoke. "Is that the only reason?"

Suddenly, she reacted in a way that Squall would have never expected. She slid the gunblade into a scabbard at her side, then smirked, looking at him. She sidestepped and walked away, looking back at him as she spoke. "I was just wondering how long it would take for the Garden to do something about it." She grinned deviously, and then left.

**Author's Note**: How'd ya' like? Yeah I know, its still short, but don't worry they'll be a little longer. For all of you out there, it is NOT pronounced Rav-ii, it is pronounced Rav-ee.

Right: Rav-ee {With an 'ee' sound, people!}

Wrong: Rav-ii                                                            

Thankies!! ^^ Please review!!


End file.
